Welcome to the Library
Here you’ll find picturebooks, comics, graphic novels, zines and books about illustration from around the world. You’ll also see contemporary illustration on display.
Some books may include sensitive content, and adult subjects and language. Our selection of books made for children is next to the stairs.
If you would like any help, please ask our team.
In the library and galleries:
Guide, hearing and assistance dogs are welcome.
Drawing is encouraged. Please only use pencils and paper, or tablets.
You can take photographs for your personal and non-commercial use with a handheld phone or camera. Please do not photograph people without their permission, or artworks labelled with a no photography icon.
Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is the UK’s charity for illustration. We create and tour exhibitions, support new work and champion illustration in schools and community spaces. In 2026 we opened the UK’s first permanent arts space for illustration in this restored waterworks.
Illustration takes many forms. Whenever you visit, you’ll find different perspectives, stories and media.
Everyone is welcome. We are proud to be part of a community of local people, schools, colleges, illustration lovers and illustrators.
Become a member and visit our exhibitions as often as you like.
Quentin Blake is an illustrator, educator and author. He has worked tirelessly to advocate for illustration and founded our charity in 2002. You will find Quentin’s books here in the Library, and a mural he designed in the café next door.
More of Quentin’s work is on display in Gallery 2. You can buy a ticket at the Welcome Desk.
“I feel like maybe that is my power: to look in strange places for inspiration.”
Illustrator Sophy Hollington makes posters and book covers for today, but her inspiration comes from the past. She loves ancient texts, delving into Old English poetry, medieval alchemy manuscripts and European folktales. Sophy also likes 1960s graphic design, with its flowing letters and warped images.
When she designs something, Sophy fills every space available. “I’ve always appreciated detail... why not say more if you can?” Her illustrations are crowded with sinuous creatures, elaborate patterns and mysterious symbols.
Sophy uses a printmaking technique called linocutting. She carves shapes into linoleum blocks and then rolls ink onto the raised surface. She puts a piece of paper over the block and then rubs it with the back of a spoon. This transfers the ink onto the paper. Sophy says this technique forces her to “make bold choices, representing things in unusual ways”.
Acknowledgements
Curators: Olivia Ahmad and Katie McCurrach
Curatorial Coordinator: Marina Inoue
Exhibition Project Managers: Laura Fletcher and Melanie Spencer
Library Design: All Things Studio
Graphic Design: Wolfe Hall
Activity Design: Jay Cover
Setworks: Solved Workshop
Lighting Design: Beam Lighting Design
Graphics Production: Omni Colour
BSL guide: Edward Richards
Installation: Josh Armitage, Phil Cuttance and Andrew Mealor
Book Administration: Bianca Binneman
With thanks to all the illustrators for their work on display, publishers for their generous donation of books, Camberwell Comic Club, Holly Casio, Marzena Currie, Jeremy Leslie, Liza Monks, Rachel Emily Taylor and our Advisors and Ambassadors.
The Library would not have been possible without the generous support of the Robert Gavron Charitable Trust.
Paint kindly supplied by Little Greene Paint and Paper.